next to Conway, sixty miles above Dover. His men killed them all, and their scalps too were brought to the March 9. Treasurer at Boston. Lovewell trusted too much to the facilities of his hunting-ground. The enemy, too, was good at ambuscades. On a third expedition, Lovewell's in which he was accompanied by forty-six men, fight. he reached the scene of his recent good fortune, May 7. where, in a "small fortification," which he halted a day or two to build, he left his surgeon, a sergeant, and seven men in charge of supplies for future need, and of three of the party who had fallen sick or lame, thus reducing the effective force to thirty-four. The following day, "while they were at prayers, very early in the morning, they heard a gun, and some time after spied an Indian on a point that ran into Saco Pond. They now concluded that the design of the gun, and of the Indian's discovering himself, was to draw them that way; and, expecting without fail to be attacked, it was now proposed, whether it were prudent to venture an engagement with the enemy, who they perceived were now sufficiently alarmed, or endeavor a speedy retreat. The men generally and boldly answered, 'We came out to meet the enemy; we have all along prayed God we might find 'em; and we had rather trust Providence with our lives, yea, die for our country, than try to return without seeing them, if we may, and be called cowards for our pains.'" Proceeding accordingly, they fell into an ambuscade, and a murderous conflict ensued, with fearful odds on the side of the savages. Lovewell and an ensign, a sergeant, and six men were killed, and two lieutenants and another man wounded, at the first onset, twelve men out of thirty-four. The survivors fell back to secure a more favorable position, and the conflict was continued, with intervals, till sunset, when the Indians drew off, without having 1 Symmes, Historical Memoirs of the Late Fight at Piggwacket, with a Sermon occasioned by the fall of the brave Captain Lovewell, &c., v. scalped the dead. Ensign Wyman had commanded through the day, after the fall of his superiors. At its close he found that only nine remained unwounded. At midnight they began their retreat, helping on their suffering companions as best they could. Three were left on the ground, in a condition making it impossible for them to be removed, one of them begging it as a last favor to have his gun loaded again, to be discharged should the Indians return before he died. A lieutenant and the chaplain, a recent graduate of Harvard College, gave out by the way; and, unwilling to retard the march of their companions, begged to be left to perish in the woods. The remnant dispersed, and by-and-bye, after great suffering, came into the settlements separately, or by two and three. One of the men, miserably wounded, crept to Wyman, and begged to be only helped to the shore of the pond, where his body might be hidden and secure against the scalping-knife. He, however, recovered strength to roll himself into a canoe, which the wind and water wafted on till they brought him unconscious to a place of safety. His name was Kiss, and he lived to command a company in the next war. The little lake which was the scene of the action is now called Lovell's Pond, and the name of the town in which it lies commemorates the valiant chaplain.1 1 Penhallow, 107; Niles, in Mass. Hist. Col., XXXV. 255-360; Davies, Address on the Centennial Celebration; Bouton's "Lovewell's Great Fight;" Symmes, Historical Memoirs of the Late Fight at Piggwacket; Kidder, Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, &c. (The two last tracts contain lists of the names of the men engaged in the action of May 8.) Williamson, II. 135; N. H. Provincial Papers, IV. 168, 169; Fox, History of the old Township of Dunstable, 111-131; Farmer and Moore, N. H. Hist. Col., I. 25-36, III. 64, &c., 94, &c. Lovewell's Fight was in its day as famous as Chevy Chase, and, like it, was the subject of a ballad, which continued to be familiar to our fathers to the end of our Colonial history. A few stanzas may serve for a taste of its quality: "Of worthy Captain Lovewell 1 purpose now to sing, How valiantly he served his country and his king; He and his valiant soldiers did range the And hardships they endured, to quell the "T was nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of May, They spied a rebel Indian soon after break of day; July 2. The irresolute red men had again become tired of the war, and the death of Rasle had relieved them from the mischievous French influence. The Penobscots, who had always been the most tractable of the eastern tribes, professed friendly dispositions. They sent a delegation to St. George's River, where they were met by other Indians and by commissioners from Boston; an agreement was made for a time with a view to further negotiations; and some Penobscot chiefs came to Boston, where, in the Council chamber, they ratified this compact with the Lieutenant-Governor. A treaty of peace was consequently arranged in Boston, which was put into shape under the title of a July 28-31. Nov. 16. Dec. 15. He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land Which leads into a pond, as we're made to understand. Our men resolved to have him, and travelled two miles round, Until they met the Indian, who boldly stood his ground; Then speaks up Captain Lovewell: 'Take you good heed,' says he; Who shot the old chief Paugus, which did the foe defeat, Then set his men in order, and brought off the retreat; And, braving many dangers and hardships in the way, They safe arrived at Dunstable, the thirteenth day of May." The chaplain was specially lamented, as thus, in the exordium "This rogue is to decoy us, I very plainly to a long copy of verses, ascribed to see.' his betrothed bride: "Assist, ye Muses, help my quill, While floods of tears does down distil, Another ballad on the same subject, of more recent composition, concludes as follows: "Ah! many a wife shall rend her hair, With footsteps slow shall travellers go, And mark the place where those are laid Old men shall shake their heads, and say, "Submission and Agreement of the Delegates of the Eastern Indians, namely, the Penobscot, Norridgewock, St. John, Cape Sables, and other tribes inhabiting within his Majesty's Territories of New England and Nova Scotia."1 1726. Aug. 6. Probably some doubt was entertained as to the authority of the Indian delegates to bind all these tribes. In the following summer the chief magistrates of MasJuly 16. sachusetts and of New Hampshire came to Falmouth to obtain a ratification with circumstances of due Peace with solemnity. The chiefs who appeared proposed the Indians. the transfer of the conference to Pemaquid. But to this the Governors would not consent; and at length a ratification was obtained, as sufficient as the circumstances admitted. It does not It does not appear that any representatives of the Norridgewock tribe, or indeed of any tribe except the Penobscot, were parties to it. The treaty now made accomplished its object better than earlier pacifications, not so much by virtue of any more binding character in its pledges, or of any new provisions, as because the French influence was for the present in great part suspended, and because the prudence of LieutenantGovernor Dummer provided for the judicious management of the trading-houses, which he had engaged to keep up among the natives, and which, when well conducted, gave them important accommodation for their purchases and sales.3 Till, after nearly twenty years, war again broke out between England and France, New England was little disturbed by Indian disorders.* Two hundred Englishmen are believed to have been killed or carried off by the Indians during the four years of this war. The cost of it has been estimated at two hundred and forty thousand pounds. This large expense difficulties, and re increased the long-existing financial newed one chief occasion of dispute between the Chief Magistrate and the Representatives. A bill for the issue of notes of credit to the amount of fifty thousand pounds obtained the reluctant concurrence of the Council. The Lieutenant-Governor laid before the Council the King's instruction to approve no such bill. They agreed with him that his approval must be withheld, and the measure fell through accordingly. The House used its power and manifested its displeasure by forbearing to make grants for salaries; and the Lieutenant-Governor complained that he was left without a maintenance, because he declined to violate his instructions. ments. The prohibition, however, made an exception for such sums as were wanted "for defraying the necessary charges of government," and for this clause a singular interpretation was proposed. To defray the annual neces- Financial sary charges of government, the sum of twenty-four arrangehundred pounds was necessary, the interest, at four per cent, of sixty thousand pounds. It was urged, accordingly, upon the Lieutenant-Governor, that he would not violate his instructions if he consented to the issuing and lending of that sum in order to secure an income from the loan to pay for carrying on the government. He proposed the question to the Council, who de- Feb. 17. clined to give advice, but expressed their judgment that, if the Lieutenant-Governor should find it consistent with his obligations to give his assent, it would be and see that you don't get drunk, for the English despise you when you get drunk.' Indians: We desire two quarts of wine and some cider at every meal, and three drams a day.'" 1727. Feb. 19. (British Colonial Papers; comp. Williamson, History, II. 200.) 1 Penhallow, 128; Niles, in Mass. Hist. Col., XXXV. 365; Williamson, II. 151. |